Babysitting Fees

Stacey - posted on 01/24/2011
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I am babysitting for a couple that works swing shift. Their little boy is 2 and a half. On a short week I can have him 70 hours. A long week I can have him up to 150 hours. They have been known to leave him here for up to 4 days in a row. The only thing they provide are diapers, no wipes, or food of any kind. I started out charging them 150 a week but am thinking about uping my price since a lot of the things like the 150 hour weeks or 4 days in a row was not part of the agreement. What should I be charging them? And should I charge them extra on an hourly basis? The 150 hour weeks are when they work from 11pm to 7 am then go home and sleep for 8 hours on those days I have him no less than 18 hours a day if they even decide to come get him at all. They've also been known to leave him here and run errands sometimes not showing up here till 2 hours after they got out of work.

Yes I am being taken advantage of I am aware of that and I am trying to right the problem thinking if I charge them more they may straighten up. I just can't decide to up the total per week each week or just do it on an hourly basis. I live in Southwest Ohio for price reference points.

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Lika - posted on 01/27/2011

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I'm not sure what to tell you. I think take an average of how many hours. So add the high end and the low end, divide by 2, multiply by $3.00/hr - and that's what you charge every week. Some weeks you get extra, other weeks it's short, but, for the price, you're raising some one else's baby for $1/hr sometimes. then that little bit is paying for supplies, so, you may as well say that you're raising someone else's baby.

Have you talked to them about it? Does it fall under neglect? Maybe talk to CPS or DHS about it? I really think that it's abhorrent that they do this, its like they don't even care about their own baby.

I would charge an hourly rate (here the going rate is about $10 an hour) and I would charge double for anything over 8 or 10 hours. I would also insist that they provide diapers and wipes. I would provide 1 meal and 2 snacks, with them providing anything over that for the extra hours.

Eileen I am not a young mom and no child I have ever met in almost 18yrs of doing childcare a child who was potty trained before 18mo's and 95% of them were done between 2 1/2-3yrs old. Yes many of us have a lot of common sense do the research, most children are not ready before this point. Great for you that you trained yourself to get your child to the potty they weren't trained you were especially at such young ages.

Its pretty sad to me that someone would be okay with leaving there child for 18 hours a day. Im a nanny and care for 2 boys 3 and 1 years of age . I get paid by the hours $5 and thats pretty low , but I bring my 2 children 3 and 2 . I agreed to the $5 because it allows me to be with my children . Being a childcare provider is hard work. You should be paid accordingly . 70 hours thats 2 full time jobs. I work in a daycare once that charged $5 for every ten minutes you were late. I make about $200 a week for a 30 - 40 hour week. If your willing to continue these hours. I think a solution might be to charge a flat rate for the night shift and hourly during the day. also it is there responsibilty to provide you with childs needs (diapers, wipes, food). I agree with the 2 week notice idea that someone posted. Also they should be coming to pick up their child after work . Good LuckSusan

Well apparently I guess I have no common sense....Don't you think your comming off a little rude. Most moms I know try their damndest to get their kids toilet trained and it usually doesn't happen till between 2 and 3. So if you want a big good for you than GOOD FOR YOU, but you don't have to talk down to the rest of us. From a young mom in Texas.

I can't help with the prices, here in Australia a baby sitter charges anywhere for $10-$25 an hour. Childcare is generally $60-$80 a day, from 8-5. Personally, I wouldn't be willing to look after someone elses child for all these hours, because think of all the time YOUR OWN children are missing out on. I couldn't justify it even for the income.

sounds to me like you are more of a Mom than a babysitter. Its hard to put a price on that, however, how much are you spending in food, diapers, wipes etc? Add at the minimum that to your price, and say after X amount of hours a week there is going to have to be an additional charge due to your time you need.

Daycare near me is $270 for four days a week for an infant, $240 four days a week for a toddler. And they provide nothing for supplies (no diapers, wipes or food.) A sitter coming to my home to watch two kids would make anywhere from $10-$14 an hour. I'd say, absolutely charge more.

It might be easier to change it to an hourly thing to make it easier to calculate and more fair. I would charge about $10 an hour. Right now your getting at best 2.50 an hour; which isn't ok even at 70.

All of that is taking into concideration that you would be buying food and what not for the child.

I do child care and I get paid $4.25hr for 1 child. Parents provide diapers, wipes, and food. I am having a hard time finding someone that will take my 2 kids (2 1/2yrs and 10mos) for anything less than $5. an hour. You need to lay down the "law" with them and set specific hours. If they are going to be late they MUST call and say they are going to be late. If they leave the child over night and they were not intended to spend the night, I would call DHFS on the parents....especially after day 4!! I would make them supply diapers, wipes, food, or you will charge more to supply it yourself.My husband works from 7pm-7am so I understand that they want to get some sleep before getting the child, but that should be part of the agreement then for time wise. I feel bad for that little kid being raised by someone else besides their parent. Personally I feel that you NEED to make time for YOUR child. YOU had the child YOU need to raise that child.

We paid extra for activies and outings that were scheduled. Now if she took them to Mc D's as a surprise then she paid for it. I wanted to add too, when I was a nanny I made anywhere from 350 to 650 a week for a 55 hour week. (350 was a small town & my 1st nanny job.. 650 was in Houston and I had experience.) And I made 10-15/hr for anything over 55 hours.

You poor thing! 150 a week for 150 hours, thats $1 an hour!! I agree with a previous poster they are using you as a nanny not a daycare provider.

You need to charge them by the hour and not the week. I know the girl who watched my son got her rate by charging $3/hr, If I were you I would write up an agreement outlining the new fee. And put it in simple format like -- $3.00/hr for the 1st 50/hrs and $4.00 every hour after. or whatever you decide.

If I were to see something like this I would think wow 3 an hour... thats not bad!

I would definetly put it in writing and stick to it! I've been a Nanny and I found if I don't hold my ground I get taken advantage of and it doesn't stop just because I want it to.

I would also let know there will be a seperate weekly charge for supplies if they do not want to provide them.

They are getting a great deal from you! Do you realize how much your saving them? Not paying for food or wipes, is a big savings alone!! My son went to preschool for 20 hours a week and we paid 180/week.....

I hope you can get this fixed, you do not need to be taken advantage of like this, but they will do it as long as you let them.

I really also think you need to check the laws in your state on what is considered neglect. You have this child 150hrs a week. 24hr/day * 7 days = 168hrs. That leave only 18hrs a week with their parents. You are not babysitter you are raising their child especially if they don't pay for food. I really think you need to check things legally. Weather or not you could possibly even claim him as a dependent. I don't know just something else to think about.

Well this is difficult because you are offering a daycare service, yet the parents are using you as a nanny/babysitter. I would check the laws in your city to see what is acceptable amount of time you are aloud to take care of this child. Mind you I live in Canada but in my province legally a daycare is only aloud up to 9 hours of daycare time so they charge extra if a parent arrives late. (ex: 5$ per 5 minute). Obviously being a private daycare you have little bit more flexibility.I would do a guideline of maximum hours such as maybe 45 to 50 hours anything above that becomes "babysitting" time that you can charge 8$ to 9$/ hour. I actually pay my babysitter(not my daycare provider) the minimum wage. If meal seems to be a problem you can add a seperate fee for meals that are after the maximum hours accumulated.And as another mom mentioned, I would definitly write down a contract so that they understand that your time is worth something. Now we can judge these parents all we want, but we have no idea what the economy is like right now in the states, maybe they are working hard to save their homes and job. If that is the case Stacey, you have to make it work that you can help this family and child but that you don't end up getting taking advantage of.

also...they should be ashamed of themselves as parents! that is too much time away! they should think of just signing the kids over to you...it would be in the best interest of the children since im sure they don't even know who mommy and daddy are. and if they are working all these hours they must be doing well for themselves. there should be no reason you are not being paid at least 300 a week! i am saddened by this!

wow.....you are def shorting yourself way too much! you deserve at least 8 dollars an hour. I live on the east coast and i charge up to 15 dollars an hour! you are raising other peoples children...they should be willing to pay top dollar to be there day in and day out for their children while they are absent! i don't know what minimum wage is in ohio im assuming much less than here in boston but 8 dollars an hour is more than reasonable wherever you live!!!!

Hi Stacey . How old was the child when you first starting looking after him ,these parents that go out to work and not seeing much of there child should have decided child or work ..i live in England my youngest daughter as one little girl of 18 months and due in 2 months time with her 2ndbaby ,her little girl goes to Play group twice aweek then she is with her mum rest of the time my daughter works those 2 days in a bank some times she works on a Saturday then her husband as to look after the little one .This child that you look after will not know who his parents are if you have all them hours its not fair on your own 2 children or to your husband .I would talk it over with your husband and see what he thinks about it . best of Luck Eileen England UK .

I am 26 I have a husband and 2 children of my own. A girl who is 6 and my own boy who is also 2 and a half. I have him on weekends, holidays, you name it I've had him. If he gets dirty I put him in the bath and if I can't get everything clean in time because usually they don't send extra clothes then he goes home in an outfit of my son's. If he were to become injured and require immediate care from the hospital then I would take him but if he is just feeling bad then they take him (if they want to). The only problem is I don't know anyone else who could help me with this. I am in the process of looking into what some other child care centers around here cost for the hours that I have him. Most daycare's only keep a child for 50 hours a week or 10 hours a day, I might have the 10 hours a day but it's 7 days a week. Or it's something crazy like those 150 hour weeks. I am pulling some things together and I couldn't have done it without you guys pointing me in the right direction.

looks like you have a very hard job at looking after this child for all them hours per week . I would if I was you charge them on a Hourly wage do you have him on a weekends if so charge them double .you are feeding him what happens if he is taken poorly do they take him them selfs or expect you to take him to the Doctors as you do not live in England i do not know what the rate of child minding is were you live .how old are you do you have a partner or husband and have child /children of your own I suppose you wash all his items if they get dirty .If I were you talk to your friends that might be doing the same type of job . from eileen in England U K

Are you serious?!?! that is crazy! I would charge more! I would tell them they need to provide this childs lunch/dinner and snacks along with diapers and wipes. My sister in law does a at home daycare. she charges $50per 8hr day and each child brings their own stuff. I would tell them they need to start paying you more I would say atleast 40 for 8hrs. I would charge hourly

Childcare and a nanny are two complete different topic all together. You can't even begin to compare the two. Hence why a nanny gets paid twice as much as a childcare provider. They actually do the same jobs but the fancy name mean the nanny also gets to charge 2-3x's the amt. of a childcare provider.

Wow hmm OP well you need to decide what is an acceptable amount of hours and set a standard rate for that, then you should decide how much you will charge for every hour over and beyond that. You may also want to include a clause for extremely long days that there must be a 12 hour shift off.

You already know you're being taken advantage of and actually i'm a bit surprised even by some of the prices listed. My daughter's nanny costs us 1200 a MONTH and that's only for 20 hours a week. We provide all her food snacks, diapers, wipes etc.

I did a contract up and if you want a copy for example feel free to PM me

you are being taken, big time. I would sit the parents down and tell them that a normal daycare keeps a child for no more than 50 hours per week. I'd tell them that 150 they pay you will begin covering UP to 50 hours per week. You will log the hours and anything over that will be charged at x rate. You decide on the rate... $3-$5.00 hourly sounds reasonable. Plus, I'd remind them that other daycares only provide 1-2 meals and 1-2 snacks... if he's pretty much never eating on their time, then I'd suggest $20 extra each week toward his food, or they can donate some foods he eats.

If they get ticked, let them know that you didn't really realize just how many hours you would have their son when you first agreed to this arrangement. Give them two weeks notice of the change and they can choose to leave after that two weeks if they choose.

Personally I would set a flat rate of say (just and example) $150 for 70hrs during the week, then if they go over those set hours you charge like $10/hr for every hr over. Maybe that will help them pick him up on time and not have the 150 hr weeks.

Charge them! Daycare charges an arm and a leg for an approximately 45 hour week and that's during the day! Since you are providing so much care, you should be compensated accordingly. I live in southwest Ohio, too, and there are daycares with overnight service available here. Call them and ask what they charge.

I would charge hourly I charge $3.14 an hour and they must supply everything diapers, wipes, and all food & drink. If you are supplying food,drinks and wipes I would charge more an hour. For a 150 hrs you are charging $150 which works out to be $1 an hour that is crazy and you are cheating yourself!! For that amount of time they should be paying you about $450 if not more. They could go to no daycare around here and pay less then $250 and that is for 40hrs a week ONLY!!

For outings then yes the parents pay for their child to attend. If they wish for their child not to attend they can find other alternatives for that day.

Stacey, you should take a poll on the babysitting service fees provided in your community. I am sure that no places charge $150 a week for that many hours. I live in Chicago and the babysitting fees are astronomical here as are the day care centers. You should be making up to $300 per week based on that and no food provided. Let them know that your rate is going to increase based on the hours you provide and if they are not in agreement and/or do not change their habits then they will have to look elsewhere for a sitter. Enough is enough, they know they are taking advantage of you and have no respect for your personal time. Good Luck.

I will have to look into the 10 hour rule thing. I know I had the little boy yesterday and they dropped him off at 1:45 and didn't show back up here till about 12:15 lastnight so I had him 10 and a half hours, which like I said before it normal for them. I am putting together a contract with a little bit of help from each of you.Thank you guys very very much.Oh I also wanted ask about outings. If and when your kids go on an outing with the sitter or daycare do you pay extra for them to participate?

I don't know if this helps you any but I pay 30$ a day fom 8ish-5ish for my one year old and 20$ a day from noonish -5ish for my 4 year old. They only go part time to their in home daycare. I believe here in Texas anything more than 10 hours is neglect and CPS has to be called and I know that was the law when we lived in Arkansas. We pay 10$ an hour for our sitter for us to go out and what not. Seeing as they work from 11p-7a your new hours should be from say 10:30p-7:30a anything over that reverts to an hourly pay of 10$ per hour. My husband and I have worked crap shifts but always opposite so that our kids were only in others care for very short periods of time. Just tell them that you are adjusting your rates. To leave a child with you for days at a time is rediculous and uncalled for.

I don't have an idea of how much to charge, but I would suggest going to an hourly. That will discourage the extra errends and such that they run. It will rward them for the shorter weeks and maybe help make the longer weeks a little less since they may be more inclined to hurry to get him.

I am not sure what the laws in Ohio are like, but I remember working for a daycare years ago here in Florida. We had a couple that were both FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) officers. They would drop their children off before 6am and wouldnt pick them up until after 7pm. Here in Florida there is a law that basically states that any amount of time over 10 hour day is considered neglect and DCF has to be called. That being said it sounds to me like you are a nanny and should be paid accordingly, if you dont reside with them, which it doesnt sound like you do, then they should pay you the equivelant of room and board, plus spending money.

My home daycare provider charges $30/day, for about a 9 hours day. She charges $35/day on weekends, and $5/hour for extra time. I provide the diapers and wipes and she provides the food. When he was on a bottle, I provided that too.I have a friend that works at a daycare centre and after hours, if a parent is late, they pay her $5/MINUTE, directly to her. I pay $150/week for a regular time job, so I think you definately deserve to be better paid for all the time you are putting in to raising their son for them.

I agree with what the other two ladies have said! I also want to ad that sometimes people don't have a reason to look for a job that is better suited for their situaiton unless they are forced to. Does that make sense? This is not said to be a mean angry person..but simply put we get "stuck in a rut" and can't see how to get out. Perhaps your changing your price, etc could lead to different types of work or different work schedules. Maybe not but just a thought. I certainly agree with them..if you have this little one for DAYS in a row, their should be compensation for that!!!

Think of what you do as being at a job. What do you think your hours are worth? About $7 an hour sounds very reasonable to me. And you should be charging by the hour or at least by the day. Make a daily fee. If they don't like the fee, tell them to start supplying food, wipes and other needs. If they don't like it, tell them they are welcome to try to find better offers. But I doubt they will. Every place will make you supply your own diapers and wipes, plus food. They need to be raising their child and not leaving him or her with someone else to keep. I'm not trying to sound pushy, but if they leave them with you for 4 days in a row, it sounds like they have you pegged as a sucker. So you need to show them you won't tolerate it anymore. Good luck. :)

I watch a little boy and I charge 25 dollars (Canadian) for a 9 hour day, lunch and snacks included. For the hours that you work I would charge more than what you are currently getting.

I suggest you change your wage from a round weekly wage to a daily, based on a regular work week. If you end up watching him for 18 hours then you should be getting 50 dollars for those alloted hours.If you worked 150 hours a week (150 hour work week/ 9 hour work day x 25 dollars a day=416 dollars for the week.) I think if you set price a little higher then they will not be as reluctant to take advantage of you.

I would call them and suggest that you sit down for a meeting about the current situation. Next time they come to get him make a pot of coffee, have some price references from other day-homes in your area, and start documenting the hours you have their child. With all that information then you have something to balance out the conversation. When they see it all on paper it may help them realize how long you actually have their son, and comparatively how they should be paying you more, and respecting your boundaries as someone trying to help them.